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December 6, 2006
Too Obvious; Perhaps Too Little and Too Late
I read The Iraq Study Group Report today. Aside from the section on the Iraqi Police and Criminal Justice system, some of which was new to me, there was nothing surprising or even slightly controversial in this report. In fact, with very few exceptions, every one of the report's 79 recommendations will seem obvious to anyone who has spent any amount of time thinking about the issues free of a neo-conservative ideological bias.
Of course, the best strategy would have been to not attack Iraq in the first place and the report does not take up the consequences and tactics that are related to that act. But we are where we are, and the report offers recommendation on how to get to a better place for the United States, Iraq, the region, and the world. It is self-conscious of its own shortcomings, "There is no guarantee for success in Iraq."
I have three "forward looking" questions. First, will the Bush administration adopt these recommendations? That question will have a definitive answer that we all can see. Second, if they adopt them will they pursue them competently? The answer to the question may be blurred by another question. Is it too late?
If these tactical recommendations had been followed competently starting with the fall of Bagdad, there was a good chance they might have worked. There is not a one of these recommendations that was not as obvious then as it is now. At least one of the recommendations in only a slightly different form should have been in place, as it was with proceeding administrations, from the beginning of this administration. Except then it would not have needed to be "renewed."
RECOMMENDATION 13: There must be a renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts: Lebanon and Syria, and President Bush’s June 2002 commitment to a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.While President Bush may have been the first to state unambiguously a "two-state solution" unlike his predecessors, he has done absolutely nothing to further this idea.
When I was in business, I learned that sometimes a horrible strategy could be salvaged by exceptionally great execution of tactics. In the case of the strategy to overthrow Saddam and put in place at least a nominally pro-Western government strong enough to defend itself and protect its people, given the resources provided, our uniformed military performed brilliantly. Every other part of our government failed. I worry that the new set of tactics in the form of the Iraq Study Group Report's recommendations are too little and too late to pull this horrible strategy out of the fire. But if they are not, great execution, far beyond anything shown by this administration, will be required.
Posted by Duane Smith at December 6, 2006 7:23 PM | Read more on Current Events |
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